Granada

Ding family murder trial

The trial begins of a man accused of the murders of Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer Jifeng "Jeff"' Ding, his wife, Ge "Helen" Chui, and their two daughers, Alice, 12, and Xing, 18, on April 29 2011.

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Members of a jury in the trial of a businessman accused of murdering a Manchester Metropolitan University lecturer and his family in their home wept as a harrowing 999 call was played in court.

Anxiang Du, 54, is accused of stabbing to death lecturer Jifeng "Jeff'" Ding, his wife, Ge "Helen" Chui, and their two daughters, Xing "Nancy" 18, and Alice, 12, on April 29, 2011.

Du has denied carrying out the four murders on the day of the royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Prosecutors allege Du stabbed the Ding family in order to "avenge himself" after their business relationship turned sour and he ended up owning thousands of pounds in costs following a lengthy legal battle.

Anxiang Du is standing trial accused of killing the Ding family in Northamptonshire.

William Harbage told jurors there was no argument that Du was responsible for the killings but he would claim he had not intended them to happen.

There is no dispute in this case that Du is the man responsible for these four tragic deaths.

There is no dispute that he unlawfully killed all four members of the Ding family.

Indeed, it was obvious from an early stage in the investigation that it was Du who did it, obvious from CCTV evidence of his movements and from forensic evidence, including his fingerprints found in blood at the scene. That much is admitted.

However, it is anticipated that Du may now claim that he should not be convicted of murder but should only be convicted of manslaughter on the basis of either diminished responsibility or loss of control...

...Suffice to say, the prosecution does not accept that this is anything other than the clearest case of murder, with the obvious motive of revenge, and any claim otherwise by Du is simply a blatant and transparent attempt to avoid his full responsibility for these grotesque killings.

Mr Harbage told the court that Du, "having massacred the Ding family", stole their car and went in search of another man, Paul Delaney, who had become involved in the civil litigation and lived elsewhere in Northamptonshire.

William Harbage QC told the jury of eight women and four men at Northampton Crown Court that Du armed himself with a kitchen knife and stabbed the family to death in their own home on April 29 2011, the day of the royal wedding.

Mr Harbage said: "Not content with killing them, the mother and father, in the kitchen of their own home, he then went upstairs to find their two daughters, Nancy aged 18 and Alice aged 12, cowering in a bedroom.

"He cold-bloodedly stabbed them to death as well."

Mr Harbage told the court, which contained members of Mrs Ding's family who had travelled from China to be present for the trial, that each member of the family had sustained many wounds, some of which had penetrated the chest cavity causing fatal damage to the heart and lungs.